News comes to us from the Empire blog that theme park giant Thorpe Park is launching Saw - The Ride in spring 2009. Nothing particularly newsworthy about that, since theme park rides have been made out of movies for aeons, and occasionally the other way around - for better or, when Eddie Murphy is involved, worse.

The Saw ride will be the world's first horror movie-rollercoaster tie-in, which should, in theory, make it one of the scariest. But are we so inured to thrills that rollercoasters now need to rely on a film franchise for extra frisson?

Saw's an interesting, if commercially obvious, choice: the idea of being locked in a contraption which could cause your death seems a great fit. The personal, psychological and physical sacrifices required to escape Jigsaw's traps are missing, admittedly (unless you count losing control of your bladder in front of friends/family/strangers), as is the personal development that they were designed to provoke (unless you count the post-coaster rush of endorphins).

By extension, I'd like to know what sin you'd need to have committed to deserve waking up in a stupor, strapped into the Saw ride with a Dictaphone gaffer-taped to your hand. Certainly, the ride's video promo utterly fails to be frightening. In many ways, it undermines the scariest scenes of the films - when Jigsaw's victims first come round and have the nature of their predicament explained to them. Yay for advertising!

But in case you're thinking there's nothing frightening about a cheesy rollercoaster with a 100-foot drop at 100 degrees, cast an eye over the fatalities in the news archives at www.rideaccidents.com. That should add to the experience in a way that a movie never will.

• Any plans for Halloween? On October 31, guardian/film will be live-blogging the Saw After Dark All-nighter at the iMax. That's right, all five films, back-to-back. I'll be there, all hoofed up on Red Bull. Whether this is your idea of heaven or hell, come and play the game!